Marking machines of various types have been used commercially for marking indicia on a multiplicity of objects all of which have essentially the same size and shape. For example, machines have been successfully used for applying to relatively small articles such as pharmaceutical capsules, pellets, pills and the like, markings such as alphabetical letters, manufacturer's trademarks or other characterizing symbols for the purpose of ready identification. However, in most commercial procedures, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, one of the primary objects of marking has been to prevent counterfeiting of products and of materials contained therein. In order to achieve this purpose, it has been highly desirable to apply an extremely accurate marking, having such a finely detailed character that counterfeiting is difficult or virtually impossible. In order to achieve this result, it has been considered necessary to avoid any relative movement between the article and the printing roll, and to avoid spinning of the pharmaceutical article about its axis.